Newcastle defeat Palace to make it 6 home league wins in a row

Newcastle United extended their impressive home run in the league with a fine 1-0 victory over Crystal Palace at St James’ Park.

The Magpies’ league record in 2022 makes for impressive reading. Only Liverpool (2.7) and Manchester City (2.2) have a better points average per game than Newcastle (2.1), based on both home and away form over the past four months.

The Geordie side dominated the first half, full of confidence following their last minute winner just three days earlier at home to Leicester City.

Palace captain Marc Guehi blocked an almost certain goal from Miguel Almirón after just seven minutes. The perfect timing from the defender showing why he was called up for his first England cap against Switzerland at the end of March.

Chris Wood then had an even better chance when he broke free and was one on one with Palace keeper Vicente Guaita but the goalkeeper stood up well and did enough to put off Wood whose shot went agonizingly wide of the far post.

The breakthrough finally came in the 31st minute when Almirón raced down the right wing and into the box before expertly unleashing an unstoppable shot into the far top corner despite being surrounded by four Palace players.

The visitors performed significantly better in the second half and held the majority of the possession but Newcastle seemed comfortable in defending their lead. The Eagles’ best chance of getting back in the game came in the 64th minute when Wilfried Zaha shot narrowly wide of Dubravka’s right hand post.

The Magpies however held on for their sixth home victory in a row in the Premier League, much to the delight of their fans who acknowledged the turnaround in their team’s performances and results since Eddie Howe took charge back in November last year by chanting their manager’s name at various points throughout the match.

After the match Howe thanked the part the crowd had to play in creating a real fortress at St James’ park over the past four months.

“We’ve built a very good feeling here. The atmosphere is electric.”

He also went on to give credit to the focus shown by his players to hold on to their early lead.

“Palace played very well in the second half. But defensively we’ve vastly improved and we kept our concentration well in the closing stages.”

Palace boss Patrick Vieira acknowledged that his team were still feeling a bit of a hangover after Sunday’s disappointing defeat to Chelsea in the semi final of the FA Cup.

“Mentally and physically it was challenging for our players to bounce back after the semi final defeat to Chelsea. However our young players need to learn how to do this. We really struggled to get into the game in the first half of an hour.”

Next up for the Magpies is a trip south to play bottom club Norwich before the very tricky double header against the top two in the Premier League when they face Liverpool at home and then Manchester City away.

The Eagles’ meanwhile have their next five matches against teams in the bottom half of the league, the first of which is Monday’s night home match against Leeds United who will be fighting hard to move themselves clear of the relegation battle.